Screw ups, Porphyria, and a Dr. Dr.
~ Roy Blount,Jr.
Oh gads, what a day it has been so far. We ran into a problem here at work, which was totally our own fault. The substitute for my regular government contact who oversees our procedures and ensures we follow protocols correctly jumped all over me looking for details about what went wrong, how we will address the problem, and how we will prevent it in the future. Unfortunately, my Minion is out today, and he’s the only one who could know what happened on Friday to cause the paperwork today not to match up. It was a desperate enough situation that I even tried calling the Minion at home (if I can’t have a vacation, then no one else should be permitted to enjoy theirs). He wasn’t home though and so the sword of Damocles dangles over my head by its hair until the morrow, when I can question the little weasel.
Don’t mind me. My proboscis is just out of joint because he got the day off while I got steam-rollered at work today.
Had a very cool case come in yesterday. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime cases that they don’t even teach you about in school because it isn’t supposed to happen in that species of animal. This is the third case of “isn’t supposed to happen” I’ve seen in the last fifteen months. I got some really good pictures this time, and some samples to send to the path lab. The biggest surprise is that my boss is actually going to let me write the article on it this time that I was told I could do the last time before they decided they didn’t want it published. If I can get the case study published, it will be my first scientific publication. I am totally psyched. (For anyone who cares about such things, it was a case of porphyria in a species that does not have recorded instances of porphyria in the United States.)
A good friend of mine from vet school, Dr. Dr. Rattie, finally graduated a few weeks back. She was in the joint Ph.D/vet program, and graduated with both her doctorate and her veterinary degree. Most impressive. She’s preparing to head south for her residency on Monday of next week, and the Professor and I will be helping her load the rented truck this Sunday (along with a few thousand of her friends, I hope). She has an Ursula LeGuin book of mine she wants to return as well; I don’t even remember loaning it to her! Lucky she has a good memory, or my library would be down one book.